Chime signal



Dec. 9, 1941..

| RITTENHOUSE 2,265,816-

CHIME SIGNAL Filed Aug. 20, 1941 2 Shee'ts-Sheei 1 I fig ATTORNEY,

Dec. 9, 1941. RlTTENHOUSE I 2,265,816

CRIME SIGNAL Filed Aug. 20, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 9, 1941CHIME SIGNAL Lloyd Rittenhouse, Honeoye Falls, N. Y., assignor to The A.E. Rlttenhouse 00., Inc.,

Honeoye Falls, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 20,1941, Serial No. 407,644

8 Claims. (Cl. 177-7) This invention relates to a chime signal, withmore particular reference to the type of construction that includes twooppositely arranged chime bars and resonance chambers with strikermechanism located therebetween, and it has for its object to afford astructure employing a support for mounting the various parts which is ofsimple, light-weight and economical construction, and affords aneflicient and durable assembly that maintains the various partspermanently in their proper relationship.

A more particular object of the invention is to afford an arrangementembodying a support which can be manufacturedas an integral or onepieceunit and which holds the striker mechanisms, chime bars, and resonancechambers in such a way that the chime bars are protected againstpossible contact with the electrical wire connections or with thedecorative shield which is conventionally applied to the front of thestructure to conceal the operating mechanism.

A further purpose of the invention is to reduce the cost of manufactureand simplify the assembly by making the support as an integral unitincluding a back plate that is attachable to a wall or mounting, andside portions, with striker mechanisms secured between the sideportions, and the chime bars and resonance chambers secured to the sideportions and located outwardly therefrom.

Still another purpose of the invention is to protect the chime barsagainst accidental contact with the wiring or shield and thus increasethe efficiency of the device, by providing the side portions of thesupport with outwardly and laterally extending front portions thatoverlie the chime bars, and which at the same time afford convenientmeans for holding the decorative shield in place, the spring characterof the side portions being such as to permit yieldability of the frontportions toward each other and thereby permit removal of the decorativeshield when desired.

An additional purpose of the invention is to adapt such a support to adouble-purpose chime signal in which one striker engagesboth chime barson opposite sides of the support to give a double note while one strikerengages only one of the chime bars to give a single note, by providingthe side portions with openings permitting movement therethrough in bothdirections of one striker-carrying plunger, while one of the sideportions includes as an integral portion thereof a barrier that limitsthe movement of the other striker-carrying plunger when traveling in onedirection, thus causing it to engage only the one chime bar.

Another object. of the invention is to afford the support with frontlateral portions that overlie and protect the chime bars from contactwith the decorative shield or wire connections and which also serve as ameans for holding the decorative shield. so that the latter can beremovably secured in place without contacting the resonance chambers andconsequently without loosening the fastening means which holds theresonance chambersin place, each chime bar and resonance chamber beingsecurely mounted on one of the side portions and yieldable with thelatter as a unit to permit the necessary movement between the sideportions for a spring engagement with the decorative shield.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the construction andarrangement of parts.

that will appear clearlyfrom the following description when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, the novel features beingpointed out in the claims following the specification.

In the drawings:

Fi 1 is a view in front elevation of a chime signal incorporating apreferred embodiment of the invention, and with the decorative shieldremoved;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation with the near resonance chamberremoved;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken centrally, looking toward thefront of the device, and with the decorative shield in position;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view, and

Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

The structure herein disclosed is illustrative ofone practicalembodiment of the invention, which may be adapted in otherwaysandreferring more particularly to the drawings in which like referencenumerals refer to the same parts throughout the several views, there isprovided a support, preferably formed from a single piece of sheetmetal, and including a back wall I adapted to be secured to any suitableretaining means for holding the signal in operative position. Thesupport also includes the side portions 2 preferably formed integralwith the back wall I and extending forwardly therefrom at its sideedges, and the side portions 2 terminate in laterally extending frontportions 3 preferably formed integral with the side portions andextending out wardly therefrom and overlying the chime bars, as appearsin Fig. 1.

A chime bar 4 and resonance chamber 5 are attached to each side portion2 by suitable .fastening devices including posts 6 fixedly attached tothe resonance chamber and extending through openings in the chime bar,and secured to the side portion of the support. The chime bars I arelocated behind and spaced from the front portions 3 of the support whichmay partially overlap the resonance chambers, but are preferablysuiilciently spaced therefrom to permit ready engagement with thedecorative shield and to retain the latter out of contact with theresonance chambers.

Attached to the back wall I is a partition I including a base flange 8riveted or otherwise permanently attached to the back wall I and aninclined flange 8 at its front edge provided with the electric terminalsto which the wires are connected for furnishing current to the strikermechanism, that includes solenoids 9 and Hi secured between a wallforming a part of one of the side portions, and the partition I.

The solenoids 9 and 10 include the plungers I2 and I movable in tubes l4and H which extend through openings in the partition I and wall II, theplunger l3 being provided at each end with a striker for engagement withboth chime bars while the plunger I2 is provided at only one end with astriker for engagement with one of the chime bars, thus enabling thesounding of a single or double note signal, as usual in this class ofconstruction. The side portions are cut away to afford openings,permitting movement of the plunger I3 in both directions, one of theside portions including as an integral part thereof a barrier It tolimit movement of the plunger l2, the barrier It being preferablyprovided with a suitable bumper to engage the plunger H on its returnmovement. The plungers are held in their normal positions, as shown inFig. 1, by the springs H. The side portions and front portions of thesupport are cut away to afford openings |8 in order to reduce the weightof the support to a minimum while retaining sufficient strength andstiffness to hold the parts in their properly assembled relationship,and at the same time permitting a slight yielding of the side portionstoward each other when pressure is applied, for a purpose that willappear later.

With this arrangement, the chime bars are located behind the frontportions of the support between the side portions of the latter and theresonance chambers, and are thus protected from possible contact withthe wire connections or from contact with the decorative shield to bedescribed presently, and which overlies and is attached to the frontportions 3 of the support.

The decorative shield is designated at I! and preferably includes sideflanges at its edges which overlie the side edges of the front portions3 of the support when in operative position, the decorative shield beingheld in place on said front portions by retaining means consisting ofupset projections 2| that underlie the front portions 3, as shown inFig. 5. The shield is properly located endwise of the front portions bystop means such as the lugs or abutments 22 provided on the frontportions and arranged to engage and limit the endwise movement of theprojections 2| on the shield.

The front portions are held in retaining engagement with the decorativeshield by the inherent spring character of the side portions, and thisspring action permits the sideportions being forced toward each othersufficiently to release their edges from engagement with the retainingremoval of the latter when desired. To secure the shield in place, it ispositioned over the front portions with one edge engaged with the edgeof one of the front portions, with. top projections 2| above lugs 22,and the front portions are then pressed slightly toward each other tospring the other front portion into engagement behind the other edge ofthe decorative shield, and when in this position, the edges of theshield are preferably sp'aced slightly from the resonance chambers sothat there is no opportunity for the shield to contact the resonancechambers or the chime bars when the device is in operation.

While the construction has been described with relation to theparticular embodiment shown, it is not confined to the details hereindisclosed, and this application is intended to cover such modificationsor changes as may come within the purposes of the improvement and thescope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a chime signal, a support including a back wall, side portionsextending forwardly from the back wall, and front portions extendinglaterally and outwardly from the side portions, striker mechanismcarried by said support, chime bars and resonance chambers secured tosaid side portions and located outwardly therefrom, the chime bars beingarranged behind said front portions, and a shield attached to said frontportions.

2. In a chime signal, a support including a back wall, side portionsextending forwardly from the back wall, and front portions extendinglaterally and outwardly from the side portions, striker mechanismcarried by said support, chime bars and resonance chambers secured tosaid side portions and located outwardly therefrom, the chime bars beingarranged behind said front portions, and a shield having means engagingthe side edges of said front portions to retain the shield thereon, saidfront portions being yieldably engageable withthe shield to permitremovability of the latter.

3. In a chime signal, a support including aback wall, side portionsextending forwardly from the back wall, and front portions extendinglaterally and outwardly from the side portions, a partition locatedbetween the side portions and secured to the back wall, a solenoid andstriker mechanism secured between said partition and one of said sideportions, chime bars and resonance chambers secured to said sideportions and located outwardly therefrom, the chime bars being arrangedbehind said front portions, and a shield attached to said frontportions.

4. In a chime signal, a support including a back wall, side portionsextending forwardly from the back wall, and front portions extendinglaterally and outwardly from the side portions, a partition locatedbetween the side portions and secured to the back wall, a solenoid andstriker mechanism secured between said partition and one of said sideportions, chime bars and resonance chambers secured to said sideportions and located outwardly therefrom, the chime bars being arrangedbehind said front portions, and a shield having means engaging the sideedges of said front portions, the latter being yieidable to permitremovability of the shield.

5. In a chime signal, a support including a back wall, side portionsextending forwardly from the back wall, and front portions extendinglaterally and outwardly from the side portions, striker mechanismcarried by said support, chime bars and resonance chambers secured tosaid side portions and located outwardly therefrom, the chime bars beingarranged behind said front portions, a shield having retaining meansengaging the side edges of said front portions, the latter beingyieldably engageable with the shield to permit removality of the latter,and stop means on the side portions cooperating with said retainingmeans on the shield for limiting endwise movement of the shield.

6. In a chime signal, a support including a back wall, side portionsintegral with and extending forwardly from the back wall, and frontportions integral with and extending laterally and outwardly from theside portions, striker mechanism carried by the support, chime bars andresonance chambers secured to said side portions and located outwardlytherefrom, the chime bars being arranged behind said front portions, anda shield carried by said front portions, the latter being yieldabletoward each other due to the spring character of the side portions topermit removability of the shield.

7. In a chime signal, a support including a back wall, side portionsintegral with and extending forwardly from the back wall, and frontportions integral with and extending laterally and outwardly from theside portions, striker mechanisms carried by said support and includingsolenoids, solenoid plungers, and strikers carried theneby, the sideportions having openings to permit movement of one of the plungerstherethrough in both directions and one of said side portions includinga barrier limiting movement of the other plunger in one direction, chimebars and resonance chambers secured to said side portions and locatedoutwardly therefrom, the chime bars being arranged behind said frontportions, and a shield having retaining means at its edges engaging andunderlying said front portions which are yieldable toward each other dueto the spring character of the side portions to permit removability ofthe shield, and stop means on the side portions engaging said retainingmeans on the shield to limit endwise movement of the latter on saidfront portions.

8. In a chime signal, a support including a back wall, side portionsintegral with and extending forwardly from the back wall, and frontportions integral with and exttnding laterally and outwardly from theside portions, a partition secured to the back wall,. striker mechanismsincluding solenoids mounted between one of said portions and saidpartition, solenoid plungers and strikers, said side portions havingopenings to permit movement of one of said plungers therethrough in bothdirections and one of said side portions including a barrier limitingmovement of one of said plungers when traveling in one direction, chimebars and resonance chambers secured to said side portions and locatedoutwardly therefrom, the chime bars being arranged behind said frontportions, and a shield engagingthe side edges of saidfront portions,said front portions being yieldable toward each other due to the springcharacter of the side portions to permit removability of the shield.

LLOYD RITTENHOUSE.

